The Many Daughters of Afong Moy (Large Print / Library Binding)
August 2022 Indie Next List
“Jamie Ford explores the relationship of mind, spirit, and personal history in this gorgeous, multigenerational novel. The descendants of Afong Moy dig into their inherited pasts with astonishing results. A hopeful, beautiful read!”
— Beth Mynhier, Lake Forest Book Store, Lake Forest, IL
Staff Reviews
From the very first chapter, I knew that I was going to absolutely adore and struggle to put down this one. Readers follow the lives of six female descendants of Afong Moy, the first Chinese woman to set foot in America in 1834. We experience the struggles and heartbreak that each of these women went through during drastically different times in history. Through Dorthy, Faye, Zoe, Lai King, Greta, and Afong herself we learn that trauma, like many things in life, is passed down from generation to generation. Dorothy and her young daughter, Annabell,are the most recent descendants of Afong living in the year 2045. In hopes of sparing her daughter from the deep depression that has plagued her her entire life, Dorothy seeks out an experimental treatment called Epigenetics in which patients experience events from their decedent’s past and the tramas that they experienced that have then been passed down/inherited through DNA. As Dorthy experiences more and more memories from her descendants' pasts, she also discovers that a deeply-rooted love is woven throughout all of their lives as well. Dorthy holds not only the key to her and her daughter's futures, but possibly the key to the women’s lives of the past as well. A haunting story that will stick with you, ingrained in your DNA, and be passed through the ages from one reader to the next.
— Maris
The New York Times bestselling author of the "mesmerizing and evocative" (Sara Gruen, author of Water for Elephants) Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet returns with a powerful exploration of the love that binds one family across the generations. Dorothy Moy breaks her own heart for a living. As Washington's former poet laureate, that's how she describes channeling her dissociative episodes and mental health struggles into her art. But when her five-year-old daughter exhibits similar behavior and begins remembering things from the lives of their ancestors, Dorothy believes the past has truly come to haunt her. Fearing that her child is predestined to endure the same debilitating depression that has marked her own life, Dorothy seeks radical help. Through an experimental treatment designed to mitigate inherited trauma, Dorothy intimately connects with past generations of women in her family: Faye Moy, a nurse in China serving with the Flying Tigers; Zoe Moy, a student in England at a famous school with no rules; Lai King Moy, a girl quarantined in San Francisco during a plague epidemic; Greta Moy, a tech executive with a unique dating app; and Afong Moy, the first Chinese woman to set foot in America. As painful recollections affect her present life, Dorothy discovers that trauma isn't the only thing she's inherited. A stranger is searching for her in each time period. A stranger who's loved her through all of her genetic memories. Dorothy endeavors to break the cycle of pain and abandonment, to finally find peace for her daughter, and gain the love that has long been waiting, knowing she may pay the ultimate price.
Jamie Ford is the great-grandson of Nevada mining pioneer Min Chung, who emigrated from Hoiping, China to San Francisco in 1865, where he adopted the western name Ford, thus confusing countless generations. His debut novel, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, spent two years on the New York Times bestseller list and went on to win the 2010 Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature. His work has been translated into thirty-five languages. Having grown up in Seattle, he now lives in Montana with his wife and a one-eyed pug.